AI labs are buying dead startups' data — one founder netted ~$40,000 from his shutdown

nordicinst · x · 2026-10-13

MIT Technology Review reports on a growing market: AI labs buying the leftover data of defunct startups for model training.

Real case: Crypto startup founder Keelan Miskell netted roughly $25,000 selling his codebase, with Google/Notion/Figma/Slack workspace data expected to bring $15,000 more.
Brokers: SimpleClosure added data sales in April via its Asset Hub, helping founders sell code, emails, chats and documents to foundation labs, simulated-workspace vendors, and tech companies building their own models.
Context: Carta and AngelList estimate startup shutdowns rose 26%-56% annually in recent years, and an end-of-life ecosystem is now monetizing data remains.

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